“Dresden Codak” Illustrator Turns His Talents to “The Silmarillion”

We’ve all become very accustomed to Peter Jackson’s vision of Tolkien’s world, but Dresden Codak illustrator Aaron Diaz is giving us his unique interpretation. It’s all part of The Silmarillion Project which he undertook in order to provide a more diverse representation of Tolkien’s works.

A second motivation is to provide a greater representation of women and people of color in the narratives. While Tolkien made more than a few missteps regarding race and gender, the “everyone is white” trend in adaptations is a symptom of other people ignoring what’s in the texts. Additionally, all of Tolkien’s writings are presented as if they’re written from a limited and flawed historical perspective (LoTR and The Hobbit were “written” by Hobbits, etc). The position of my adaptation is to present what “actually” happened- the events upon which the flawed or biased history is based. Just like with real historians, the presence of women and people of color, and their achievements, are frequently ignored.